The Deputy's first step after landing was to ascertain the immediate terms on which the dreaded chief of the North intended to stand towards him. He wrote to desire Shan to come into the Pale to see him, and Shan at first answered with an offer to meet him at Dundalk; but a letter followed in which he subscribed himself as Sidney's 'loving gossip to command,' the contents of which were less promising. For himself, Shan said, he had so much affection and respect for Sir Henry, that he would gladly go to him anywhere; but certain things had happened in past years which had not been wholly forgotten. The Earl of Sussex had twice attempted to assassinate him. Had not the Earl of Kildare interfered, the Earl of Sussex, when he went to Dublin to embark for England, 'would have put a lock upon his hands, and have carried him over as a prisoner.' His 'timorous and mistrustful people' after these experiences would not trust him any more in English hands.1

All this was unpleasantly true, and did not diminish Sidney's difficulties. It was none the less necessary for him however to learn what he was to expect from Shan. Straining a point at the risk of offending Elizabeth, he accepted the services of Stukely, which gave the latter an opportunity of covering part of his misdoings by an act of good service, and sent him with another gentleman to Shan's castle, 'to discover if possible what he was, and what he was like to attempt.'

1 Shan O'Neil to Sidney, February 18: Irish MSS. Rolls House.

2

A better messenger, supposing him honest, could not have been chosen. Shan was at his ease with a person whose life was as lawless as his own. He had ceased to care for concealment, and spoke out freely. At first 'he was very flexible but very timorous to come to the Deputy, apprehending traitorous practices.' One afternoon 'when the wine was in him,' he put his meaning in plainer language. Stukely had perhaps hinted that there would be no earldom for him unless his doings were more satisfactory. The Irish heart and the Irish tongue ran over.

'I care not,' he said, 'to be made an earl unless I may be better and higher than an earl, for I am in blood and power better than the best of them; and I will give place to none but my cousin of Kildare, for that he is of my house. You have made a wise earl of M'Carty More. I keep as good a man as he. For the Queen I confess she is my Sovereign, but I never made peace with her but by her own seeking. Whom am I to trust? When I came to the Earl of Sussex on safeconduct he offered me the courtesy of a handlock. When I was with the Queen, she said to me herself that I had, it was true, safe-conduct to come and go, but it was not said when I might go; and they kept me there till I had agreed to things so far against my honour and profit, that I would never perform them while I live. That made me make war, and if it were to do again I would do it. My ancestors were kings of Ulster; and Ulster is mine, and shall be mine. O'Donnell shall never come into his country, nc.

Bagenal into Newry, nor Kildare into Dundrum or Lecale. They are now mine. With this sword I won them; with this sword I will keep them.'

'My Lord,' Sidney wrote to Leicester, 'no Attila nor Totila, no Vandal or Goth that ever was, was more to be doubted for overrunning any part of Christendom than this man is for overruning and spoiling of Ireland. If it be an angel of heaven that will say that ever O'Neil will be a good subject till he be thoroughly chastised, believe him not, but think him a spirit of error. Surely if the Queen do not chastise him in Ulster, he will chase all hers out of Ireland. Her Majesty must make up her mind to the expense, and chastise this cannibal. She must send money in such sort as I may pay the garrison throughout. The present soldiers, who are idle, treacherous, and incorrigible, must be changed. Better have no soldiers than those that are here now-and the wages must be paid. It must be done at last, and to do it at once will be a saving in the end. My dear Lord, press these things on the Queen. If I have not money, and O'Neil make war, I will not promise to encounter with him till he come to Dublin. Give me money, and

though I have but five hundred to his four thousand, I will chase him out of the Pale in forty-eight hours. If

I

may not have it, for the love you bear me have me home again. I have great confidence in Lord Kildare. As to Sussex and Arnold, it is true that all things are in disorder and decay; but the fault was not with them -impute it to the iniquity of the times. These

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35

malicious people so hated Sussex as to ruin him they would have ruined all. Arnold has done well and faithfully; and Kildare very well. Remember this, and if possible let him have the next garter that is vacant.' 1

To the long letter to his brother-in-law, Sidney added a few words equally anxious and earnest to Cecil. Ireland,' he said, 'would be no small loss to the English Crown, and it was never so like to be lost as now. O'Neil has already all Ulster, and if the French were so eager about Calais, think what the Irish are to recover their whole island. I love no wars; but I had rather die than Ireland should be lost in my government.'

2

Evidently, notwithstanding all his urgency before he left England, notwithstanding the promises which he extracted from Elizabeth, the treasury doors were still locked. Months had passed; arrears had continued to grow; the troops had become more disorganized than ever, and the summer was coming, which would bring O'Neil and his galloglasse into the Pale, while the one indispensable step was still untaken which must precede all preparations to meet him. Nor did these most pressing letters work any speedy change. March went by and April came; and the smacks from Holyhead sailed up the Liffey, but they brought no money for Sidney and no despatches. At length, unable to bear his suspense and

April.

1 Sidney to Leicester, March 5 (condensed): Irish MSS. Rolls House. 2 Sidney to Cecil, March, 1566: MS. Ibid.

disappointment longer, he wrote again to Leicester :

'My Lord, if I be not speedier advertised of her Highness's pleasure than hitherto I have been, all will come to naught here, and before God and the world I will lay the fault on England, for there is none here By force or by fair means the Queen may have anything that she will in this country if she will minister means accordingly, and with no great charge. If she will resolve of nothing, for her Majesty's advantage and for the benefit of this miserable country, persuade her Highness to withdraw me, and pay and discharge this garrison. As I am, and as this garrison is paid, I undo myself; the country is spoiled by the soldiers, and in no point defended. Help it, my Lord, for the honour of God one way or the other.' 1

Two days later a London post came in, and with it letters from the council. The help would have been sent long since had it rested with them. On the receipt of his first letter, they had agreed unanimously that every wish should be complied with. Money, troops, discretionary power-all should have been his 'so much was every man's mind inclined to the extirpation of that proud rebel, Shan.' The Munster council, which had hung fire also, should have been set on foot without a day's delay; and Sir Warham St Leger, according to Sidney's recommendation, would have been appointed the first President. Elizabeth only had fallen into one of her periodic fits of ill-humour and irresolution, and

1 Sidney to Leicester, April 13: Irish MSS. Rolls House.